Introduction: The Evolution of Kanye West
I chose Kanye West’s music because of his progression in style from his first studio album The College Dropout, to his more recent work of Donda and Jesus is King is remarkable. I have yet to find an artist who changes his style that much from album to album and successfully keeps reinventing himself. Hence I find it very interesting to base my research on him. In addition, I find it very interesting how he uses different techniques and forms of traditional music with technology and explores philosophical ideas through his lyrics, which are often thought-provoking for those who listen closely enough to hear them.
One of the most significant comparison points would be the discrepancies between the various albums. For instance, what attributes made each album feel so distinct but at the same time still recognize that it is a Kanye West album. I would think that the instruments and tempo are relatively different between his first and latest work. Furthermore, his lyrics have changed a lot over the decades, such as not swearing anymore, so I presume there could also be some interesting findings.
Spotify holds all the studio albums of Kanye West; hence I don’t suspect there will be any significant limitations.
Typical Tracks:
Kanye West - Heartless (808s & Heartbreak): One of the most iconic Kanye West tracks. Lots of auto tune and minimalistic songwriting. This is probably the era of Kanye tracks that most people remember.
Kanye West - Bound 2 (Yeezus): Very different track from the rest of Yeezus, however, still very typical Kanye West.
Atypical Tracks:
Kanye West, Sunday Service Choir - Every Hour (Jesus is King): A big departure from previous work. Jesus is King is a gospel album, with the first track Every Hour being in a very different style then done before.
Kanye West - I Thought About Killing You (ye): Very slow song that is in sharp contrast to the bass heavy tracks released earlier by Kanye.
Kanye’s style progression over the years.
Kanye West’s albums have seen a significant shift in style over the years. Especially in his latest works, such as Ye and Jesus is King, which are a lot slower and differ a lot from the explosive sounds of Yeezus and Watch the Throne. To get a better feel of how much his style changed, we will look at his albums’ danceability and energy values. The values come from the Spotify API and are described as follows:
“Danceability describes how suitable a track is for dancing based on a combination of musical elements, including tempo, rhythm stability, beat strength, and overall regularity. A value of 0.0 is least danceable, and 1.0 is the most danceable.”
“Energy is a measure from 0.0 to 1.0 and represents a perceptual measure of intensity and activity. Typically, energetic tracks feel fast, loud, and noisy. For example, death metal has high energy, while a Bach prelude scores low on the scale. Perceptual features contributing to this attribute include dynamic range, perceived loudness, timbre, onset rate, and general entropy.”
Looking at the plot below, both the danceability and energy have dropped significantly in the last couple of years.
